Bookstore Success for Australian Indie Author

Indie author Darcy Conroy

Novelist Darcy Conroy, whose debut self-published novel gained over a million reads on Wattpad, shares her success story of getting the book stocked by the Australian bookstore chain Dymocks. An inspiring case study that sends the clear message that a professional and well-planned approach can work wonders!

As anyone who self-publishes knows, it's difficult to get a self-pub book into bookshops. Doing my research, like a good self-publishing author does, I read time and again that the best you can hope is to be accepted by an indie-friendly, indie-bookstore on a consignment basis. So I'd decided that I wasn't going to worry too much about brick and mortar stores. but my heart wanted to be in at least a couple of stores in my home town, where the novel is set.

How I Approached the Bookstores

Impressing Dymocks bookshops

So I began composing an email pitching to a little bookstore that I knew was open to consignments from local self-pubs. I typed the sentence “…I'm writing to ask if you would consider stocking my novel on consignment.”

Then stopped. I had this surge of energy, and the thought came to me: what I really want is for them to just stock it – really order it, pay for it, like any other book. So I deleted “on consignment” and continued. As I described the book, I began to worry, not for the first time, that this indie bookstore has a literary focus, and my novel is general, contemporary women's suspense. My readers are more likely to be at Dymocks, Australia’s biggest book chain.

I deleted the email address of the indie store and swapped it for the name and email of the fiction buyer at the huge Dymocks in my central business district. I put in everything to show I have produced a quality product and understand I need to do marketing:

• the trad-pub editor and proof reader I engaged
• the cover I’ve had professionally designed
• noted that I’d had the interior designed, too
• outlined my social media platform (over a million reads on Wattpad as the central pillar) and other marketing plans

Oh and – very important it’s turned out – that they could order the way they usually do through Ingram. Feeling particularly precocious. I added a request for an in-store book launch – what could they do but say ‘no'? I clicked send. It was 7pm by this time. so the buyer wouldn't get it till the morning. I pretended I had no expectations.

Bookstore Success Story

At 9.29 the next morning, I received a reply. She'd be happy to stock my novel. She said the cover looked solid, the synopsis was great, and she was sure I'd have a lot of interest from bookstores and readers. She reminded me that the chain stores are mostly franchises, so I'd have to contact them all individually. but to email her when the book was available for her to purchase through Ingram.

Speechlessness. Dancing. Just one store, but the store I wanted and my first email. Talk about inspiring!

Promising Developments

The next day I called all 70+ stores in Australia for the name and email of their fiction buyers. I then sent out emails to all but the several that are stocked from the head office. That was a week ago as I write this, and so far I've had two more stores say ‘yes', albeit one that asked for consignment which I will do (just the once), and I've had a request for a hard copy to review from the head office. I have absolutely no expectations, of course (just wild hope), but I'm hoping that the fact that my local city store has, indeed, granted me that in-store book launch for July 17th will help a little.

All-in-all it’s been an inspiring pre-release week and a reminder that it’s always best to go for what you want most, first, and compromise only when you have to.

OVER TO YOU

Please feel free to share your bookstore success story with us wherever you are in the world. We'd love to hear about it!